I was able to finally talk to Wil Pascual, the creator of the Lagalag Project, which is an experiment of sorts that features Filipinos around the world and two traveling moleskines. We enjoyed a good 20 minutes talking about photography, moleskines and blogs.

I read this from Sylvia Mayuga’sbreaking story on Global Nation (Thanks JV). It features Sheila Coronel, formerly of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, looking at the dangers faced by today’s journalists in different countries. Below is an introduction from Frontline World‘s video report titled “Requiem”:

At a time when fair and accurate news coverage is more essential than ever, 2006 marked one of the deadliest years on record for journalists. Surprisingly, despite the fierce fighting in Iraq, most of the slain journalists did not die in combat. They were deliberately targeted, hunted down, and murdered for investigating corruption, crime, or human rights abuses in countries around the world. In Requiem, FRONTLINE/World essayist Sheila Coronel looks at the dangers journalists confront as they try to tell their stories and pays special tribute to reporters working in the Philippines, Russia, Turkey, Zimbabwe, China and Iraq who have been killed, jailed, or exiled for daring to speak truth to power.

It was a tense day yesterday for more than 20 children and their tutors. For 10 hours, children and their teachers were held hostage inside a bus parked near the Manila City Hall. The children were freed later. While I was covering the happenings at the Commission on Elections (Comelec), everyone was distracted by this hostage crisis. The man behind it, civil engineer Armando “Jun” Ducat, said he did it to call attention to corruption in government. He has been known to pull such “stunts” in the past, but this grabbed the nation’s and the world’s attention for hours. Ducat is also owner of a daycare center in Tondo, Manila.

Here’s a video clip taken by our reporter Tetch Torres early that day. You can also listen to audio clips of Ducat’s demand here and here.

As I was watching the live coverage on GMA7 around the time the hostage-takers promised to release the children, here comes some school (I can’t remember which one, so I’d rather not say) to the rescue, promising that if the hostage-kids were freed then they’d take care of their elementary and high school education.

Author and former journalist Dr. Stephen Quinn was in Manila to attend a forum. Last Sunday, he spent a few hours with his students from the Ateneo Center for Journalism (that includes me) talking about about the Philippines, journalism, online media, mobile phones, convergent journalism in Asia, and his love for red wine! (But I was not able to catch that on cam). hehe. Here’s Dr Quinn answering some of my questions at Cafe Adriatico, Malate.